After looking over the chapter on learning in context, there is one problem from this last year that stands out above all of the rest. It's a problem that deals entirely with behavior, and how to use reinforcements/punishments/behavior shaping etc. effectively.
I had one little sixth grader, an adorable little boy who could knock you over with his charm and affection. However, once we got to know him better, we began to realize that he had some significant behavior issues. We had extensive problems throughout the school year with temper tantrums, refusals to participate, and disruptive behavior such as talking, singing, and randomly running around the classroom, climbing on his desk, or moving furniture around. We tried EVERYTHING with this kiddo. I worked extensively with the behavior specialist, playing around with ideas and trying just about anything that sounded workable. Our first challenge was to find activities or things that were reinforcing to him. This was really difficult, as we would stumble across things that would work for a day, and then his desired behavior would stop. This little guy would completely throw the good behavior out the window, and ask us to give us his reward, because it's HIS. So, hmm...we didn't give up on this immediately, but after repeated failures (note: weeks upon weeks), we decided to try something different. As a matter of fact, we tried about 10 different somethings before we landed upon our last attempt. This involved a very complex system in which he could earn up to three stars for each period of the school day, and for each period, he could earn up to five cents worth of school store coupons. If he earned so many stars for each half of the day, he could earn additional coupons. This seemed to work, sort of. Unfortunately, we only had this system to utilize for about a month before the school year was up. We definitely had our ups and downs, but even as I type this, I'm at a loss for how to teach this student how to use appropriate behavior. It's such a mystery with this one! I wish I knew how to tap into what would really motivate him and reinforce him.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Learning, Cognition, and Memory
The first needs analysis that I am going to do is going to focus on how my teaching strategies affected learning, cognition and memory in my classroom. This topic seems broad to me, so to make is simpler for myself, I am going to break it down and list some of the areas in which I think improvements could be made.
Learning: Learning seemed to be a scattered problem, with only certain students struggling with this process. Most of my students were able to learn what was expected of them in a reasonable time. However, a few of my students struggled consistently in this area. The main problem that I saw as a hindrance to learning was behavioral issues. One student in particular made very little progress the last half of the year. He was having major issues in his personal life, and made little effort when he was in my classroom. Being successful was not important to him, nothing motivated him, and nothing phased him. What to do? I believe he is very capable of learning, but was being held back by his behavior.
Cognition: Hmm. In my classroom, several of my students had a hard time thinking about things in many different ways. This could be due in part to some of the severe cognitive disabilities that some of my students had, but it could also be due in part to not offering as many opportunities to think about things in lots of different ways. Several of my students with autism had a very difficult time "thinking outside the box", and while I worked with them extensively on this (with some successes, I might add!), I don't know if this is exactly what this category is talking about. Overall, however, I wish that I had had more ideas about how to better encourage my students to think about things in different ways. I have lots of ideas when it comes to teaching resource or general education, but when it comes to Life Skills, I'm a little stumped.
Memory: I had a lot of difficulty in two areas concerning memory this year, those being math and reading. I taught two girls in math, both of whom functioned at about the second grade level. Both girls were learning how to add and subtract with carrying and borrowing. We worked on this skill for the entire year, and while I was able to add to their skill level, there were serious difficulties when it came to one of my students being able to remember the necessary steps. For the entire year, she consistently would remember, and forget, all of the steps for adding and subtracting with carrying and borrowing. When given numerous reminders, she was able to be successful, but she was rarely able to cue herself to follow the appropriate steps. This proved to be frustrating not only for her, but for me, as it made the math process much slower. In reading, I was teaching two students a set of pre-determined sight words and the letters of the alphabet. For the 5 months that I worked with these kiddos, very little improvement was made. They didn't seem to retain anything for more than a day or two, and trying to find ways in which to help them remember was difficult and frustrating. I tried to find ways in which to make the words and letters meaningful, but often, the students remembered the wrong thing. For example, one of my students would see a letter and remember the word I associated with the letter, such as saying Queen when he saw a Q. For the life of him, that poor guy could not remember that it was a Q. I tried various strategies with both kids, but nothing seemed to stick. Coming back after vacations was like starting at square one, with almost nothing being retained.
Learning: Learning seemed to be a scattered problem, with only certain students struggling with this process. Most of my students were able to learn what was expected of them in a reasonable time. However, a few of my students struggled consistently in this area. The main problem that I saw as a hindrance to learning was behavioral issues. One student in particular made very little progress the last half of the year. He was having major issues in his personal life, and made little effort when he was in my classroom. Being successful was not important to him, nothing motivated him, and nothing phased him. What to do? I believe he is very capable of learning, but was being held back by his behavior.
Cognition: Hmm. In my classroom, several of my students had a hard time thinking about things in many different ways. This could be due in part to some of the severe cognitive disabilities that some of my students had, but it could also be due in part to not offering as many opportunities to think about things in lots of different ways. Several of my students with autism had a very difficult time "thinking outside the box", and while I worked with them extensively on this (with some successes, I might add!), I don't know if this is exactly what this category is talking about. Overall, however, I wish that I had had more ideas about how to better encourage my students to think about things in different ways. I have lots of ideas when it comes to teaching resource or general education, but when it comes to Life Skills, I'm a little stumped.
Memory: I had a lot of difficulty in two areas concerning memory this year, those being math and reading. I taught two girls in math, both of whom functioned at about the second grade level. Both girls were learning how to add and subtract with carrying and borrowing. We worked on this skill for the entire year, and while I was able to add to their skill level, there were serious difficulties when it came to one of my students being able to remember the necessary steps. For the entire year, she consistently would remember, and forget, all of the steps for adding and subtracting with carrying and borrowing. When given numerous reminders, she was able to be successful, but she was rarely able to cue herself to follow the appropriate steps. This proved to be frustrating not only for her, but for me, as it made the math process much slower. In reading, I was teaching two students a set of pre-determined sight words and the letters of the alphabet. For the 5 months that I worked with these kiddos, very little improvement was made. They didn't seem to retain anything for more than a day or two, and trying to find ways in which to help them remember was difficult and frustrating. I tried to find ways in which to make the words and letters meaningful, but often, the students remembered the wrong thing. For example, one of my students would see a letter and remember the word I associated with the letter, such as saying Queen when he saw a Q. For the life of him, that poor guy could not remember that it was a Q. I tried various strategies with both kids, but nothing seemed to stick. Coming back after vacations was like starting at square one, with almost nothing being retained.
Welcome!
Welcome! I am a graduate student at Pacific University in Oregon, and am in the process of completing my master's degree in Special Education. Over the course of the last year, I have had the amazing opportunity to teach Life Skills to a fantastic group of middle schoolers. The experience taught me more than I could ever have imagined, and as I look back on the past year, I realize that there are many things that I need to do differently when I teach Life Skills again.
As part of a class I am taking for my master's degree, I will be writing about various aspects of my teaching in this last year, and offering needs analysis based on my teaching experiences. Each blog entry will cover a different topic, and will give me an opportunity to analyze important aspects of my teaching, and to come up with strategies to make my classroom a better place for my students. If you have any suggestions, please comment!! I welcome any advice/personal experience/or insights you might have. :-)
As part of a class I am taking for my master's degree, I will be writing about various aspects of my teaching in this last year, and offering needs analysis based on my teaching experiences. Each blog entry will cover a different topic, and will give me an opportunity to analyze important aspects of my teaching, and to come up with strategies to make my classroom a better place for my students. If you have any suggestions, please comment!! I welcome any advice/personal experience/or insights you might have. :-)
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